Best PlacesKimberly, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kimberly, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kimberly ranks 14,512th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kimberly
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Kimberly's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kimberly ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of towns
Where Kimberly ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- Short commute30.8 minutes each way, better than only 29% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 34% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kimberly
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kimberly home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,372, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Kimberly's effective rate of 0.45%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kimberly
Kimberly runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kimberly.
Who works in Kimberly, and how
Work in Kimberly centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Kimberly
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kimberly.
What the weather is like in Kimberly, month by month
Kimberly sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Kimberly
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kimberly
Schools across Kimberly average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bryan Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Warrior Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Jefferson Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Mortimer Jordan High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kimberly school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kimberly measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Kimberly against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kimberly
Is Kimberly a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kimberly ranks 14,512th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kimberly expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $288,576. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $87,372 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Kimberly safe?
Yes, Kimberly is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Kimberly with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kimberly. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kimberly represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Kimberly detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kimberly: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kimberly: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kimberly: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kimberly: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kimberly detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.